The name Baal-berith is attested in the Hebrew Bible in the context of Shechem after the death of Gideon (Judges 8:33; Judges 9:4) and is treated in later encyclopedic sources as "an idol worshipped by the Shechemites." Theological and onomastic treatments read the name as a theonym or epithet combining Baʿal (a local "lord" or divine title) with berith (Hebrew for "covenant"), signaling a local divine guarantor or protector of agreements. Some reference works record the variant El Berith in reception, but the corpus presents that as an alternate form in later literature rather than a firmly attested separate origin narrative in the primary Biblical text.
No primary source descriptions of an anthropomorphic form, cult image, or iconography for Baal-berith are preserved in the supplied materials. Encyclopedic entries and Biblical references name the deity/title and refer to a temple at Shechem but do not specify physical attributes or cult statuary.
Ancient attestation (encyclopedic readings of Judges) frames Baal-berith as a local protector and guardian of engagements or covenants in the Shechem community. Modern occult and esoteric webpages (e.g., Joy of Satan, satankoananda.org, and similar sites) attribute additional thaumaturgical powers—such as prophecy, discernment of past and future, transmutation of metal into gold, and assistance in rising to honors—but these are later reinterpretations found in contemporary occult or subcultural sources and are not supported by the historical/Biblical references in the supplied corpus.
Weaknesses
- otherNo documented weaknesses in supplied sources
Wards
- otherNo documented wards or anti-Baal-berith rituals in supplied sources
Asherah
Asherah is a major ancient Northwest Semitic mother-and-fertility divine figure closely associated with sacred trees and wooden cult poles. Attested across Ugarit, Canaanite/Phoenician, Israelite, Akkadian and related Levantine contexts, her cultic presence is debated in later Israelite texts where references are often recast as objects (asherah poles, groves) and subject to iconoclastic reform.
Astarte
Astarte (Ancient Northwest Semitic ʿAṯtart; Hellenized Ἀστάρτη) is a major Bronze–Iron Age Levantine goddess worshipped in Canaanite and Phoenician contexts and widely syncretized across the ancient Mediterranean. Sources portray her with martial, erotic, and civic associations and attest organized cultic worship (temples, shrines, coin iconography) rather than folkloric anti‑spirit traditions.
Baal
Baal (bāʿal) is a Northwest Semitic title meaning 'owner' or 'lord' that served as a theonym in the ancient Levant; in Ugaritic and Canaanite texts it appears as the name/title of a prominent storm and fertility god (often rendered Baʿal Haddu) who features centrally in the Baal Cycle and in regional cults tied to rain, fertility, and kingship. In later monotheistic literatures the term becomes a polemical label for rival or foreign deities and is reinterpreted in various receptions.
Baʿal Zephon
An epithet/localized form of the Canaanite storm god Baʿal (Hadad) associated with Mount Zaphon (Jebel Aqra) and with the north; worship of Baʿal Zephon served protective and maritime functions and was widely syncretized in neighboring cultures.
Hadad (Haddu / Adad / Iškur)
Hadad is the ancient Near Eastern storm and rain deity attested across Levantine and Mesopotamian traditions (Ugaritic Haddu, Akkadian Adad, Sumerian Iškur). He is a high-ranking weather-lord associated with rain, thunder, fertility of fields, and a dual capacity to nourish crops and to unleash destructive storms; he plays central roles in temple cult, royal ideology, and mythic battles (notably the Ugaritic Baal Cycle).
Hauron (Haurun / Horon / Hawran)
Hauron (also Haurun, Horon, Hawran) is an ancient Near Eastern deity attested in Egyptian sources (worshiped at Giza) and identified by scholarship as the Egyptian form of a West Semitic god worshiped in Canaan and at Ugarit. In Egypt his name was closely associated with Harmachis and could be used as a designation of the Great Sphinx of Giza.
Kotharat
A collective of Northwest Semitic goddesses attested in Bronze Age texts (chiefly at Ugarit, Mari and Emar) associated with conception, pregnancy, birth and the blessing of marriages; conventionally treated as a heptad and etymologically linked to a Semitic root meaning 'skill' or 'to achieve.'
Mot
Mot is the Ugaritic/Phoenician personification and divine power of death; in mythic texts he appears as a son of ’El whose residence is a pit and whose appetite for the living brings sterility and conflict with the storm-god Baal.
Aṅgulimāla
Aṅgulimāla is a figure from early Buddhist literature: a notorious human brigand who wore a 'finger necklace' and, after an encounter with the Buddha at Sāvatthī, renounced violence, ordained as a monk, and is presented in the tradition as attaining liberation. In later South and Southeast Asian popular religion he is also invoked as a protector in childbirth and associated with fertility.
Ba (Egyptian soul)
The ba is one element of the ancient Egyptian multipart conception of the person: an individuated, mobile aspect of a human that survives death, is commonly depicted as a human-headed bird, and moves between tomb, body, and the afterlife. It is distinct from other components such as the ka and the akh and is central to funerary practices that maintain continued identity after death.
Baalat Gebal
Baalat Gebal (Phoenician bʿlt gbl, "Lady of Byblos") is the tutelary goddess and principal civic deity of the ancient Phoenician city of Byblos. Her long-lived temple at the city's center and attestations in Egyptian, Akkadian (Amarna), and later Greek sources show her role as city-protector, focal point of royal veneration, and an object of cross-cultural identification with foreign goddesses.
Baalshamin
Baalshamin (literally "Lord of Heaven[s]") is a Northwest Semitic theonym/title used across the Levant and adjacent regions to denote a supreme sky/heavenly lord. Depending on time and place it functions as an epithet of other deities (notably Hadad/Baal) or as a distinct civic/sky deity associated with weather, lightning, and sometimes solar aspects; attested in inscriptions from Ugarit, Phoenicia, Safaitic Arabia, Palmyra, Nabataea, and in treaty and stele texts.
Community Record
- [1]Baal-berith. Wikipedia: Baal-Berithwiki
- [2]Baal-berith - International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, entry 'ba`al berith = "Baal of the Covenant"'academic
- [3]Baal-berith - Biblical Cyclopedia. Biblical Cyclopedia, entry 'Baal-Berith' (notes later interpretative uses)other
- [4]Baal-berith: meaning and etymology (Abarim Publications). Abarim Publications, onomastic discussion of Baʿal Berith / El Berithother
- [5]Wikidata: Baal-berith. Wikidata item Q1757445, notes 'God(s) worshipped in ancient Canaan'wiki
- [6]Archive: Ánti Baal-Berith; or The binding of the Covenant.... 17th-century polemical tract referenced in reception/history notes (Archive.org)literary
- [7]Archive: A serious expostulation with that party in Scotland... (1682). 17th-century pamphlet citing Baal-Berith in polemical context (Archive.org)literary
- [8]Baal-Berith - Joy of Satan. Contemporary occult webpage attributing magical powers to 'Baal-Berith' (modern reception)folk
- [9]Baal-Berith - Satankoananda.org. Contemporary occult webpage attributing magical powers to 'Baal-Berith' (modern reception)folk
- [10]Baal-berith - Canadian Assault / modern cultural references. Example of modern cultural reuse of the name (music/subculture reference)other